Life is a funny thing, even when it’s nothing to laugh at. Writers struggle with interpreting their experiences, circumstances and surroundings into fiction that is both relatable and subjective, accessible yet challenging.​

Author Josh Stallings hails from a very colorful background, like a lot of us, but his skills and perspective are unique in terms of both creativity and candor. No joshing, no stalling. Just the facts, ma’am. Even if they’re artistically embellished, they’re far from “fake news.”

“I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a king,” Frank Sinatra famously sang in his 1966 hit “That’s Life.” I think many writers can relate to that, even if they’re not fans of the Chairman per se, like me.

Hardboiled, soft-hearted author Josh Stallings would probably prefer to quote his musical idol, David Bowie: “I will be king, And you, you will be queen, Though nothing, will drive them away, We can beat them, just for one day, We can be heroes, just for one day…”

Josh is the hero of his own story, like we all are. He just knows how to tell his better than most. It helps that his source material is so compelling.

I know of Josh via Facebook, Bay Area LitCrawl, Noir at the Bar Seattle, and his Moses McGuire detective series, which are among the best in the genre, going all the way back to Raymond Chandler. I say that with all sincerity.

His rough-and-tumble fictional voice is matched by his tough guy visage, but trust me, this guy is a pussycat. Pussycats have claws and know how to take care of themselves, so keep that in mind.

Josh inspires a lot of us in the indie lit community with his honest approach to the world he lives in, and the one he creates so vividly. He crosses between these parallel universes with graceful ease.

Most of all, Josh is a survivor and a champion of the underdog. This is why his work resonates so deeply with readers, and friends…

Your most recently published novel, Young Americans, which is a departure in many aspects from your acclaimed Moses McGuire series of detective novels, seems to have really struck a chord in both readers and critics. What do you attribute this to, considering it’s all a crap shoot once a book is out there in the world, no matter how carefully crafted or expertly marketed?

At the time I wrote Young Americans it felt like so much I was reading and writing had gone bleak, edging into nihilism. My McGuire books were angry, dark beasts. They follow a suicidal bouncer deep into the sex trade, if they were going to be honest, they needed to be hard. After three years of writing and researching that world, I either had to lighten the fuck up or blow my brains out. A bubbly disco heist novel seemed the perfect prescription. I love Moses McGuire, but I’m not sure I’d invite him home for tea with the family. The crew in Young Americans are people I’d love to spend time with. They are not without edge, they have it a plenty, it’s that they have a more glittering world view.

1976 in the San Francisco bay area was a sexually fluid time. I knew straight boys taking hormones and growing breasts. I knew transgender women before we had a label for them, they were just Octavia and Mad Mary. The glitter rock scene popularized a sexual freedom we all were already living. I sat down to write Young Americans two years before Caitlyn Jenner came out to Diane Sawyer on 20/20. By the time we published, it was aligned with where readers and critic were at.

Also, where Moses McGuire is a caveman who would never be accused of being woke, Young Americans is very grrrl power driven. The crime crew is run by three powerhouse women. The lads are there to witness the ladies bad-assery, the boys panic, bring comedy, and romance. It tosses the male as hero trope on it’s head. For very obvious reasons this rang a bell with my female readers.

Your life – particularly as a self-described “criminal” – has been at least as interesting as your hardboiled fiction. Do the lines tend to blur when you’re in the creative process, or do you attempt to maintain a strict barrier between reality and imagination, keeping the autobiographical influences more or less subliminal?

Fiction is the lie I use to tell my truth. Everything begins with me. Young Americans started with a group of characters I knew well. Glitter Rock kids I ran with. I never robbed a disco, but I creeped my share of houses. So I’m sitting with this crew in my head and then I start typing and they quickly morph into people that have a passing resemblance to people I knew, but really aren’t them at all.

Also what is happening at the moment I’m writing effects the work. I was talking to writer/blogger/activist Elizabeth Amber Love about body image issues in crime fiction and comic books. I’m sure that led me to my view of Sam’s physicality;

She was a big girl, with the kind of curves that started wars. Zaftig. Out of fashion. The Thin White Duke, David Bowie, made looking underfed fashionable. You could count every one of supermodel Margaux Hemingway’s ribs. Sam’s body was luxurious. It said screw you, have a burger and relax awhile.

I’m not a P.C. saint. I wouldn’t have used this if it didn’t fit, but Sam is a nonconformist bad ass so it worked completely for the book.

The saying goes “Write what you know.” I think, if you don’t know what you want to write about, get off your ass and hit the street. Take an Ensenada hooker to breakfast and let her tell you her side of the tale. Hang out with the doorman of a Mexican brothel and you meet Adolpho, who became an important character in the McGuire books. His introductory dialogue was direct or close to, quotes from our conversation. But then I invented his family and home life and he became a fictional character.
Emotional memory is my greatest tool, but it only works when I don’t give a rat’s ass what readers might think of me personally. I remember the gut churning fear the first time I held a gun, intent on harming another human. I remember heart break. I remember every time I stood up and every time I wimped out. The key to good work is to be emotionally honest and not let facts get in the way of a true story.

Do your former gigs in Hollywood as a movie trailer editor/screenwriter/actor in any way inform your work as an author vis a vis story construction and content?

Yes. Story structure is in my blood, I can write without an outline because I have spent my life thinking about how stories work. As a massively dyslexic teen I chose to read Shakespeare and to do that I had to break it down, reread it, figure it out. Wild Bill knew his structure. Movie trailers demand you take hours of story and distill them into two minutes. I had to first understand how the movie works if I wanted to get my two minutes right. I also spent a lot of time thinking about pacing. In film, young editors mistake pace for fast edits. Pace is built by layers of information coming at a viewer. Story builds pace, as does sound, music, emotional content, a wide shot with lots to decode plays faster than a simple close up. Confusing or losing a viewer slows the pace. They also miss the next moment because they are stuck trying to find the thread. There isn’t time to say anything twice, so be sure it is said right the one time and move on. The other cool thing I learned cutting trailers is that humans want to make sense of the world; a soldier looks left and the next cut is a baby looking right and laughing, the viewers will assume the baby is laughing at the soldier, you don’t need to work hard for connections because viewers are working with you. Novels are the same, readers want them to work, they are rooting for them to make sense and they are very smart. My readers see things and make connections I missed. I’m always collaborating with the reader. Together we make a story sing.

What are you influences, literary or otherwise?

David Bowie, the outsider’s outsider. He brought so many of us together under one glorious rhinestone speckled freak flag. Mean Streets and Taxi Driver showed a teenaged me that street stories about folks I knew could survive in the world. Dylan Thomas showed me that hard truth and beauty could coexist. Raymond Chandler taught me that poetry could have crimes and broken heroes in it. James Crumley lit my brain on fire with his beautifully bent tore up language and characters. James Lee Burke taught me not to be afraid to slow down for a perfectly described bayou, but you better be damn good to pull it off. Hunter S. Thompson, that mad mother fucker showed us all how to write like stoned raging angels.

Tom Waits. Willy Nelson. Lou Reed. The Clash. The Pogues. Lots of music influences my work. I have always listened wide and deep. When I start a new book I build a playlist, a sound track to type to. I am currently writing almost entirely to Alt and Outlaw Country.

The thing about influences is they don’t stop once you start writing. I am and have been influenced by many great newer writers, some only through their words and others I am lucky enough to call friends. Charlie Huston, Jamie Mason, Pierce Hansen, Ian Ayris, Terry Shames, Timothy Hallinan, Catriona McPherson, Sabrina Ogden, Holly West, Thomas Pluck and so damn many others who have helped shape the ongoing crime fiction conversation.

I am feeling lucky and a bit stun-boggled by the wonderful reactions to my glitter rock disco heist yarn. Having been told to stay away from resent period novels and that a coming of age story and crime story just wouldn’t mix in a reader demographic sense. Thing is it was the next book I needed to write. The Moses McGuire novels took me to a dark angry place, I needed some mirror ball infused joy. It seems like a few other of you did too.

Here is what happened so far…

Earlier this year Young Americans was nominated for a Left Coast Crime Lefty Award (along side, Michael Connelly, The Crossing (Little, Brown and Company) Matt Coyle, Night Tremors (Oceanview Publishing) Robert Crais, The Promise (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) and Gigi Pandian, The Accidental Alchemist (Midnight Ink). Gigi, deservedly won. Me, I was proud to be named beside so many talented writers.

I remember way back in 2002, reading a review of the film Narc, there was a line that described Jason Patric’s character I’ve always remembered. It said he looked like he crawled out from under a pile of Allman Brothers records. That always stuck with me. I remembered it while reading YOUNG AMERICANS by Josh Stallings because this book crawled out from under a pile of albums, but not necessarily the Allman Brothers. And when I say albums, I mean fucking Vinyl records, that mono sound with the hisses and cracks. The sound of this book is not re-mastered for iTunes. You need big speakers.

YOUNG AMERICANS is set in Northern California 1976 and you can smell the weed and hear the music from the opening page. That’s something very important with this book: the music. 1976 was a musical crossroad specifically when punk, disco, and glam emerged or collided depending on your perspective. You hear the music in the proper context. It fits. Yes I am emphasizing this point because this book couldn’t exist without the sound. As I read, I need to stop to listen to songs I knew and look up ones I didn’t and it made the entire experience all the better.

When I read about this book and reached out for a copy, I didn’t have any idea what it was about. I didn’t care either. There was a new Josh Stallings book, enough said. I knew the title. That was is. So I get the book and it has a pink cover with a disco ball. No synopsis on the back either. Only pull quotes from writers I dig and words jumped out at me….. freaks/heist/drugs/sex/guns/glam/tough/original/sweet…… One thing I was certain of is in all of Stalling’s work there is a level of heart that is palpable. You care about the characters.

Sam is a stripper dancing for the farmers and freaks of Humboldt, County California. She comes from a family of old school thieves and knows the art of cracking a safe. She is young but with an old soul. Side note….. Sam is the most well written female character I’ve read in forever. She falls for the man she knows she shouldn’t fall for. And this sets the tale in motion.

So I just decided I’m not telling you anymore. My reason for this is I went into this book like I went into some of my all time favorite music albums before I knew they were going to be just that. I saw the cover and thought to myself I want to know what this is. So you just push play and fall in. Go where it takes you.

Take this trip. It’s lonely but heartfelt. It’s late night music on a fast highway.

Stallings has a powerful but subtle voice. He reminds me of the late great Eddie Little minus the nihilism. Yes there is a looming presence of menace. I couldn’t have got behind this book if that wasn’t clearly stated.

Josh’s writing career began with ALL THE WILD CHILDREN (a memoir) and the MOSES MAGUIRE trilogy. All four books buried the readers in deep dark crime stories, both real life and fictional. The lives all touched by sex, drugs, guns, and lots of dysfunctional families/relationships.

Trivia: the character Sam’s appearance and her feelings on body image came from a conversation Josh and I had a long time ago.

His latest book YOUNG AMERICANS, while still including sex, drugs, and glittery rock ‘n roll like David Bowie, is a masterpiece of medium-boiled crime fiction that’s suitable for a late teen and older audience. Sam, never call her Samantha, comes from a family of thieves. She formed her crew at a young age. When she’s burned by a lover and needs to pay off his debt, Sam reunites the crew and takes on a few new members. Josh was told he couldn’t write (re: sell) a coming of age story with a heist plot. He challenged that and succeeded.

“To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming of age crime story.” ~Josh Stallings

The three female characters at the heart of Sam’s crew: Sam, Candy, and Valentina are some of the most vibrant and refreshing female characters I’ve read and fell in love with them the same way I did with the women of Sarai Walker’s DIETLAND. The character of Sam feels so much lighter and more in charge (even when in danger) than the sex workers in his Moses Maguire series. PS – Valentina is a phenomenal transwoman of color.

Will we ever see Josh’s zombie cozy mysteries or Viking cozies? Maybe someday we’ll get that lucky!

“I really believe that fiction is at heart, the lie we tell so we can get to the truth. And I think that’s what we’re all trying to do no matter what genre it is.” ~Josh Stallings

Josh read his memoir to his father before he died a year ago.

“It’s very hard as a parent to divorce yourself from the fact that you feel responsible, as that is one of your works of art is that child. And so, you take personally what they do, not just personally because you love, but personally because it reflects on you at some level.” ~Josh Stallings

To extent, we even got into the commercialism and making art for a living – covering doing it for love, making only tips, charging people reasonable prices, libraries vs torrents.

When it came to writing YOUNG AMERICANS, it was truly something created because Josh felt the love for the story. It began as a short story in the FEEDING KATE anthology. He thought about the world and asked himself if he could live with it for a whole year to flesh it out to a full novel.

“If tomorrow I was out in a bar and met this story would I say, ‘yeah that’s a one-night story,’ or would I say, ‘now that’s a story I want to get hitched to’?” ~Josh Stallings

He further explained, and is very quotable you’ll hear for this entire episode, about writing what you love not what you think will sell. He continued to see writing like dating:

“I say be yourself because, otherwise you might meet the right person and they won’t recognize you. And I think that’s true about writing. Write what you love because then other readers and writers who like what you like will recognize you.” ~Josh Stallings

FEELING OLD

Josh discussed the difference in aging out of his Hollywood job as a movie trailer editor where youngins try to yinzplain to him about his job. Whereas, in literature, at his age, he’s shown great respect.

“I don’t know whether I am or am not an asshole, but I know I’m trying to get better every year and I hope that shows up in the writing.” ~Josh Stallings

“They think it’s so punk to steal a book and yet, they’ll give six hundred dollars to Apple for a phone. They aren’t sticking it to the man, they are sticking it to the artist.” ~Josh Stallings credits a commenter on his site for this.

I was born in 1976. So for me the ’70s is a decade I can only experience by looking back at history or some of the film, television, books, comics, and music that was produced in that era. It seems pretty clear though that decade was a great time for crime fiction and it’s also a great era to set a pulp crime tale; the mob was this organization of almost mythic power and corruption was everywhere. In his new novel “Young Americans” writer Josh Stallings takes readers back to that time period, by melding a heist story worthy of the great Richard Stark with a subculture he was part of and loved, the Glam Rock era. The result is a powerful, fun, and exciting crime tale.

“Young Americans,” (named after the David Bowie album) kicks off in mid December of 1976 in Northern California. In the opening chapters we meet Sam, a stripper who has run afoul of a powerful rural crime boss and the only way to save herself is by returning to the family business, thievery. So Sam returns home to San Francisco and assembles a heist crew to help her get out from under the crime lord’s thumb and perhaps start a better life. We follow her and her friends and family as they form a plan, gather the materials they need, and case their target. We then go along on the daring New Year’s Eve heist of a packed disco and then the story picks up even more power and momentum as the aftermath of the heist puts Sam and company in the crosshairs of a number of powerful and dangerous enemies.

So “Young Americans” is a fun and exciting tale full of twists, turns, and great action, but it’s real strength is it’s great cast of complex, fun, and well developed characters. Our chief protagonists are Sam, a tough and cunning thief with a devotion to both her biological and chosen families; and her brother Jacob whose smarts got him shut out of the family business. So when we meet him Jake is a bright kid obsessed with the great films of his era and the great rock ‘n roll, and when his sister comes home he insists on being part of her plans to get out of trouble.

Jake’s friend Terry, a smart jock turned glitter rock kid also becomes part of the crew. Rounding out the team are Sam’s old partners in crime Candy and my favorite character in the book Valentina, an African American transgender woman. I don’t want to spoil anything by talking too much about why I like Val, but let’s just say she’s incredibly charismatic and a bad-ass.

We also meet a number of colorful, eclectic, and cool characters over the course of “Young Americans.” One of my favorites ended up being Jo jo a gay, kindly, mob enforcer with a love for ’70s TV.

“Young Americans” shines a light on how cool, capable, and tough Stallings core cast is, but the author also really shows off their humanity as well. We get to see them in their element and we get to see them dealing with the physically and emotionally taxing consequences of their actions. Those are my favorite types of crime novels; the ones where you get both thrills and excitement and the brutal and painful costs of violence. It’s a type of novel that Stallings is a master at telling too. He proved it with his Moses McGuire trilogy of novels and proves it once again here.

So “Young Americans” has a different kind of feel than Stallings previous work, but it contains all of the elements I’ve come to love about his writing: fun action, gritty street level crime, fascinating characters, and powerful and poignant drama. For me it reads like a mash up of the lurid, lightning charged rock of the post-glam punk band the Cramps and Richard Stark’s awesome Parker novels.

Young Americans by Josh Stallings (Heist, November 20, 2015) – There’s something to say of rock and roll eras. You had the British Invasion of the 60’s or the hair metal havoc of the 80’s—easily identifiable and potent symbols of youth in rebellion. Though, there are few eras as absolutely, certifiably, mind-bending as the glam rock era. I can copy/paste all I want from Wikipedia to explain, but come on, like The Beatles or Motley Crue represent their era, David Bowie is the single name I can toss out there to give a perfect picture of the glam rock scene.

Which explains Josh Stallings’ latest, Young Americans—titles after a Bowie track—and soaked head to toe in eyeliner, glitter, and gutter trash. Already well-known for his fantastic Moses McGuire series and stunning (I cannot stress that enough, stunning) noir memoir, All the Wild Children, Josh Stallings comes out of the gate roaring with a filthy love letter to 70’s glam and the heist novel.

Sam, a down on her luck, legacy safe-cracker finds herself in the awkward position of owing the wrong guy a high amount of money. Seeing no other way out, she needs to jump headfirst back into her old life; bringing in old friends and her younger brother, who idolizes her despite his excess of smarts, and get in one last, desperate heist.

Stallings’ writing is a Willie Weeks bass-line—deceptively to the point, but with flourishes that stand out like flares. The strength of the story—the interpersonal relationships between this glam rock family—only help to ratchet up the tension in Sam’s situation. Stallings has us rooting immediately for Sam to make things work. We want her and her gang to not only get out of their situation in one piece, but with their heads up and their pockets fuller. And that’s not an easy task. Heist novels need to take great care to provide charismatic and damaged leads that readers happily root for even though thievery is morally repugnant. We want our Robin Hoods, but Sam doesn’t fit that mold at all. She’s a bit worn out and at times impulsive, but damn can she crack a safe.

And don’t get me wrong; with outstanding dialogue, a clever means of bringing on the heavy subject matter, and a jet-powered pace, there’s a lot for me to love about Young Americans, but I really, really loved Stallings great care in describing Sam’s skills. There’s a rhythm to those scenes that drew me in and left me hypnotized. I can imagine that must be the draw of an activity like safe-cracking, a near catharsis, and Stallings captured that well for me.

Young Americans has rushed into my top ten list for 2015. Young Americans feels like teenage rebellion; raw, sexy, sweet, and ugly in all the prettiest ways. In the hands of most writers, I don’t think this story could have popped, but Stallings makes it look easy.

I am a sucker for a heist novel. Whether it’s amateurs pushed to economic extremes, “Born To Lose” punks with thirty-eights, or precise pros, the story of someone taking something from someone else always draws me in, no matter how well I’ve gotten to know the scores. I was excited to find out that one of my favorite hard boiled authors, Josh Stallings, was comitting his own style of literary larceny with Young Americans.

Set in the mid-seventies, Young Americansstars ringleader Sam, a former small time thief, scraping by as a stripper in Northern California. When her questionable boyfriend disappears with forty grand of her boss’ money, she must pay him back with either her money or her life. To get the money, she returns to her Bay Area home and enlists her old crew, enthusiastic participants in the glitter rock scene of the time. The crew includes her kid brother, Jacob; Candy, a glam rock princess and Jacob’s love interest, and Valentina, an African American Vietnam vet and transexual. The mark is a disco on New Year’s Eve. As you can guess, things don’t go as planned.

It is how Stallings spins these tropes that makes them work. His glam rock San Fransico gives the story a unique back drop, showing a group of young people pushing the views of culture and sexuality in a time of transition. Stallings explores how the heist plays with and against his characters’ emotions. Sam struggles to keep Jacob as safe as possible, but needs him around for the score to work. As part of their plan, Candy sleeps with the frontman of the disco’s opening act, wreaking havoc with Jacob’s emotions.

The author’s ability to play out the comaraderie aspect of the heist novel is what truly makes the story involving. Stallings’ seventies setting allows us to think back to the tribes we belonged to in our past, no matter what era, before marriage, family, and obligations made friendship a less concentrated form. He captures those connections of young people who would do whatever they could to back the other, no matter how stupid. When Sam and her crew learn how deep they are in, the implications of these connections become much more harrowing and serious.

Young Americansis a oddly sucessful hybrid of Richard Stark and Cameron Crowe. You root for these crazy kids to get the money, avoid murder by the mob, escape the law, and keep the bond they share together for as long as they can. You may end the novel yearning to listen to something on 8-track.

Reading Young Americans is likely a bit like actually living through the era the novel depicts – fun and flirty with an unmistakable edge to both. Josh Stallings has crafted a collection of characters you can’t help but root for and a plot that hustles across the page at breakneck pace.

Young Americans is a classic heist novel in that the motivations and desired results are what one would expect; yet the originality of the participants and the unique setting situate the book apart from the others of the type. Readers looking for a quick read, some hilarious dialogue, and a brief glimpse into a forgotten time will find much to enjoy in Josh Stallings’ tale.

As the novel opens, Samantha – but please call her Sam – is working at a strip club in Humboldt County, California. She is a big girl but makes no apologies for it. Raised in a criminal family, Sam sees stripping as her effort toward a legitimate lifestyle. But as it often does, the past rears its ugly head when Sam gets herself involved in some internal power struggles among her corrupt acquaintances and must flee for her safety.

Needing to hide out, Sam returns to her hometown of San Francisco and hooks up with her old gang of friends. Her brother Jacob is also hanging around, constantly trying to impress Sam’s childhood best friend, Candy, so that Candy might take a romantic interest in him. The reunion is short-lived as Sam’s attempt at subterfuge collapses around her.

Their only option to keep the tight-knit gang safe and intact is by agreeing to perpetrate a heist at the local disco hotspot, Taxi Dancer. The casing of the joint and planning for the raid provide many entertaining vignettes. Of course, on the night of the heist, shenanigans ensue and when two of their own are put in danger, Sam and her friends must ratchet up their seriousness.

Josh Stallings brings the disco era and the glitter kids who populate it to vivid life. By including vintage details – such as films, music, and magazines – he is able to emerse the reader in this world. Yes, the characters are essentially low-level criminals, but since they are in this predicament through no fault of their own, readers will cheer for them guilt-free. Double crosses and hijinks keep the gang on their toes.

And what a gang it is: Sam and Jacob are the main focus, but it is Valentina Creamrosa, a transgendered African-American amazon, who stole my heart. She gets the funniest quips and her unrequited love for Jacob’s friend Terry is very sweet. The group is a family – not of blood, but of choice – and they will do what they have to in order to protect their own. Josh Stallings’ Young Americans is a crime novel with a heart of gold.